Area residents headed to Super Bowl

At least three men to make trip to watch Seattle play Denver

OMAK  A trio of local Seahawks fans can’t believe how lucky they are this week.

Mark Milner and brothers Geoff Miller and Cody Miller are heading to Super Bowl XLVIII to watch Seattle take on Denver.

The Super Bowl takes place at 3:30 p.m. P.S.T. Sunday in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Milner learned shortly before lunch Thursday that a business acquaintance was offering him a corporate-sponsored ticket.

“When you get a free ticket, who wouldn’t want to go,” Milner asked.

The Millers learned about their two tickets Friday from a neighbor who had a friend in Warden trying to sell them.

“I talked to her Friday,” Cody Miller, 38, said. “Luckily, I knew my brother had the cash. I called Geoff and said I need $3,400 cash. He said, ‘What makes you think I would give you $3,400?’ I said, I got Super Bowl tickets. He said “Go get them! Go get them!’”

This is the first time to a Super Bowl for the Millers, although they attended Seahawks games when younger with their dad, Jack, a season ticket holder.

“I used that point to get the individual that had the tickets to sell them,” Cody Miller said. “To see how important it was to me.”

“I’m excited,” Geoff Miller, 43, said. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. That’s why we forked out the big bucks.”

The Miller tickets are on the 300 level.

“We are up pretty high up, but we didn’t care,” Geoff Miller said.

Milner regularly attends Seahawk games. He also had a similar ticket to watch the 2006 Super Bowl, when Seattle was edged by Pittsburgh.

The ticket is on the 50-yard line, 10 rows back.

“You are up close and watching the halftime show and everything,” he said. “It’s pretty darn cool.”

Milner, who looked something like then-Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, was approached several times at the earlier Super Bowl for his autograph.

“I did not get over to Seattle for any games for a while now,” he said. “I am definitely watching them every Sunday and following them very closely. I have family that are season ticket holders.

I am a lifelong Seahawks fan.”

Milner plans to post to Facebook during the Super Bowl.

“I am a lucky guy who knows the right connection,” Milner said. “There is no way I could buy a ticket and fly to New York on my own. It’s all about who you know, not what you know.”

The face value for any Super Bowl ticket is $800. Those tickets through scalpers were running from $1,800 to $2,500 last week. This week the prices weakened due to weather reports that showed rain or snow possible and temperatures in the low 30s.

“I’m bringing my snowmobile gear,” Cody Miller said. “Geoff is going to purchase some stuff over in Spokane before we go. We’re going to REI a day early to see if we can get him fixed up.

“I am excited, I can’t believe it,” Cody Miller said. “I haven’t been able to sleep. It really hit today (Monday) when I got the tickets in my hand.

The Townsend family in Okanogan will gather at Malcolm and Kelly Townsend’s home off Cameron Lake Road to watch the Seahawks on a 73-inch television while enjoying a barbecued meal.

The family went to the NFC championship against San Francisco.

Kelly and the family’s children – Cassidy, Connor and Cody - watched the game in the stadium.

Malcolm watched on television at his buddies place in Renton.

“There was a lot of yelling and screaming,” he said. “I think all of the neighbors were, too. What an exciting game. You gotta love that victory. I think it was neat they held them at the end.”

Besides family, the Townsends also invited Mikey Williams, the Commandos ball/water boy, and his mother, Janet, of Coulee Dam to the shindig.

“I’m a big Payton Manning fan,” Malcolm Townsend said. “It’s going to be tough, but of course I will root for the Seahawks. But I would not be too upset if Manning won. He sure has had an amazing run. I’m glad both teams made it.

“I was kind of dreading this, if it was Denver and the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. I am a Seahawks fan. I have season tickets. I have to root for the Hawks.”

The Townsends donated their tickets for the Seattle against New Orleans first-round game to Russell Wilson’s charity, the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

The Townsends attended games during the season, including the two games where fans set records for how loud they cheered.

They also hung a 12th man flag at Baines Title, where Kelly is manager.

“It’s insanely loud in there,” he said. “Seattle also has the world’s smartest fans. They quiet down for our offense. We (12th man crowd) have destroyed some great quarterbacks in Seattle.”

Malcolm Townsend, who coach the Okanogan County Commandos to a league championship, said Seattle’s defense looks strong.

“What a dream defense,” he said. “Seattle is solid up front and in the back field. They can not be beat.”

The Omak City Council mulled a request to paint the Seahawks 12th man flag on the street at Central and Main.

Council member Mike Foth brought up the request by the Howe family to paint the number 12 on the street.

Omak city administrator Ralph Malone said the Howe’s changed their mind, but may ask again. Malone wanted the council’s thoughts about the request.

Police chief Larry Schreckengast said the family withdrew its request because it could cause controversy.

It was suggested the council resolution requiring pre-approval for requests to paint city streets for a particular event, council minutes said.

“I am 100 percent Minnesota Viking fan,” he said. “I have been for the last 45 years, but if I want to live, keep my family, keep my friends and keep my mother, I am rooting for the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl.”

A Denver television station, ABC channel 7, posted a report on the cost of attending this year’s Super Bowl.

Although it pales in comparison to going to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, it still is costly.

The cheapest tickets last week were $1,800 through Primesport, a site the Broncos recommended for season ticket holders who did not win a lottery ticket.

The station found two tickets in the upper corner nosebleed section that ran $4,242.60 with a minimum $30 ticket shipping charge.

A flight for two to New Jersey cost $480 on Southwest Airlines.

The cheapest hotel was a Howard Johnson near JFK Airport, which ran less than $300 total. But the hotel was 30 miles from MetLife Stadium.

In Times Square, the cost was $615.

The total cost, would be at least $5,000 to $5,300.

For that, you could buy a 60-inch television, a new sofa with theater-style seating, cup holders and recliners and

Or you could buy 100 pizzas at $12 each (do they still have that coupon for $10 pizzas at Pizza Hut?) and still not spend as much as you would traveling to the game.